6FeetUnderTale
by Zerodius
Summary: Finding no happiness in the world of humans, a youth by the name of Frisk stepped out of it and into the darkness, alone. A strange world of love, LOVE, and determination reached out to greet his young soul. Thrust into an alien place where past, present, and future mean nothing, he shall live or die by the strength of his SOUL and his skill with the blade.
1. Determination is not enough

**OFF:** I have writen a new fanfic! It's been so long since I did. And well, it's an AU for that game that everyone seems to like.

I won't spoil anything but I'll reveal two points, for those who read author notes. First, I will skip over redundant scenes. Scenes that go exactly like in canon or would otherwise be tedious will be skipped. In short, I will not be writing about every single random encounter Frisk run into.

By extension, this story begin a bit earlier than canon, showing off Flowey's final run before moving on to Frisk's quest. I hope the prologue will make it clear why I begun at this point.

Finally, I am using an unique format for chapter titles. Hopefully, will not break the formatting for it. If so, I will edit the chapter with a corrected, less fancy title later on.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **6FeetUnderTale**

 _Determination is not enough_

* * *

"Why are you standing in my way? Don't you get it, you idiot? I have DETERMINATION! You cannot hope to kill me!"

"kill you? all i need is to stop you."

Outwardly, Asriel screamed with a mix of confidence and hate as another barrage of his bullets smashed against the endless tidal wave of bones from his opponent. The golden hall was in ruins, glass shards and smashed tile fragments covering every inch of the damaged floor. The entire castle shook as two of the most powerful monsters in the underground fought.

But inwardly, terror gripped the flower-shaped monster. Something inside him was churning and he knew very well that nothing should be churning within his plant body. This feeling, he knew, was death. A death that DETERMINATIOn could not undo. Final, absolute death. And it horrified him to the core.

"Why do you even bother? You can't SAVE or RESET anymore! Don't think I didn't notice those dropplets that periodically flow from your head! That isn't sweat! Do you take me for an idiot?"

The short skeleton held out a hand and clenched his bony fingers on thin air, his left eye flaring into a blue inferno. Asriel found himself uprooted and lifted high into the air, losing control of his body. The Judge swung his arm to the left and immediately, the plant was sent screaming into the wall, smashing into it with unbeliveable violence. The impact tore petals off his head and inflicted wracking pain. Despite his diminutive weight, the collision was so brutal it caused a cratter into the brick wall, dislodging many stones and sending dust all over the place.

Before he could recover, the Judge pointed to the ceiling, sending Asriel slamming straight into it. Then downward, back into the floor. And then, Sans opened his hand. Magic poured out of the floor, materializing into long, thin bones, sharper than any known blade. They pierced Asriel's delicate flower skin like a hot knife through butter.

"You MIN-MAXING CHEATER!" he cried out, in a mix of frustration, rage, pain... and though he did not admit it to himself, also out of despair.

"now now, i gained that level 99 LOVE level the hard, honest way. you, on another hand, it's clear as day that you cheated quite a few innocents out of their lives to gain yours. so don't come complaining to me, you dirty murderous dandelion."

"I'm a buttercup, not a dandelion!"

"either way, weed like you is not welcome on my lawn."

His roots dug through the solid tiles. It was hard, it was painful, it took almost all he had. He was shaking incontrollably by now and he felt control over his magic slipping. Despite his best efforts, his magic surged through him. For a brief moment, the non-descript face on the flower turned into a detail child goat head as Asriel's eyes bulged and he found his stem bending against his will. He found himself hurling, deep crimson splattering on the floor, the edge of his vision blurred and darkened by the coldness of death.

That wasn't blood. That was magic, which for a monster, was even worse. He had been mortally injured. It was only because of pure determination that he didn't let himself collapse as agony gripped every cell of his tiny body, his true identity humiliatingly revealed by his weakness.

Not that it mattered. The smiling bastard had, after all, once been the most determined monster in the entire underground. Though his father had tried to keep it classified, his long time as a flower had allowed him to learn just how many times Sans had LOADED and SAVED, undoing the countless disasters that had threatened the underground.

Well, until his time machine broke down and he ran out of determination.

"Y-you can't save anymore. I-I can still do it. You know that DETERMINATION, even more than LOVE, determine who wins in a fight..."

"i saw through your bluff, kid." If the skeleton had been shocked by Asriel's face being revealed, he did not show any sign of it. "you're out of DETERMINATION, it has exceeded your LOVE or nearly so. if you could LOAD without melting and dying for real, you probably would have after i cracked your SOUL like that."

The Judge slipped his hands into his shirt and grinned even more widely. Asriel only hated him more for it.

"how about it buddy? if you have the strength, do one last RESET. how about you try gathering some love instead of LOVE? you're clearly out of balance and i think a bit of friendship might do you some good. who knows? maybe you'll like not being a murderous little shit and start behaving."

Sans's words cut deeper than he could possibly imagine. Asriel was far too aware of what he was talking about and how he knew about it. Though only one with DETERMINATION retained time ripple-proof memories, there were some habits that never went away even once you stopped messing with the timeline. The Judge had spent enough time in flux to know the signs and to connect the dots together.

Most importantly, it deeply shamed the prince to realize that his agony, his weakness was so apparent that anyone with a knowledge of DETERMINATION could now tell that he was dying.

He knew he could melt. But if he remained in this hall, if he fought Sans further... he would definitely die. What happens when someone who lost his SOUL die? He didn't want to find out. The world was blurry around him. Everything was dark.

He didn't want to die. He didn't want to die. He... he didn't want to die!

The desire not to die filled Asriel with DETERMINATION.

It hurt him more than anything he had ever felt before. He screamed as the world spun around him. His entire body shook so hard, he felt as if it was falling apart and knowing how serious his DETERMINATION overdose was, it probably was. He felt sticky his face over, as if someone had splashed goo all over his face. A feeling like a thousand small needles and oven heating elements slamming into his skin tore at every nerve his plant body had, even those he never knew he had. He wasn't sure if his eyes were popping out of their orbits or if he even had orbits to begin with but regardless of the anwser, they certainly did.

RESET! He must RESET again!

He launched a vine toward it. Desesperately, despite his body screaming at him, begging him to give up. He wanted to live, he needed to live. The vine folded upon itself before reaching it, losing shape, splashing like a sickly tiny splash of water near the button. With absolute and horrifying clarity, Asriel felt the sticky feeling again and instead, felt a dry, dusty feeling in his mouth. He felt himself coughing dust and knew, his mind suddenly awfully clear and calm, that he was dying, truly dying.

He was so close. So close. He couldn't overdose now. He couldn't return to dust. At least, when he had a SOUL, there was a possibility that if an afterlife exist, he might go to it. He did not want to cease to exist.

He thrown all of himself at it.

His head, half-liquefied, three of his petals having flaked away into lifeless dust, slammed into the RESET option.

Purple greeted his vision. The pain left him. But he did not feel any better. He couldn't. He just laid there, his head pointed toward the ceiling, not even bothering to hide his true visage within the flower, his eyes fluttering. With the new RESET, time had undone its wounds to his form. But even without injuries, he was still overdosed and he felt it. His body felt sticky, weak. He couldn't even bring himself to be angry.

It was funny how comforting anger had been. Hatred had never left him. Even when every other emotion and feeling had abandonned him, anger had remained to comfort him. But now, even anger felt futile. here was only emptiness and sorrow. It was funny. He shouldn't be able to feel sadness and he knew, rationally, that what he felt right now had nothing to do with the feeling of sadness he could feel when he used to have a SOUL.

But you didn't need to have a SOUL and emotion to realize loss, to feel emptiness. And thus, though different, he felt sorrow. In a way, it was even worse than normal sorrow even. After allowing himself to cry, back when he was a youthful goat-shaped monster, it would make him feel better. Crying now only left him empty and miserable and unlike all of his other emotions, it refused to die. It refused to leave him alone.

He couldn't gain love. Without a SOUL, he cannot. He tried. He tried so hard, for so long. But he cannot. He can only gain LOVE. He gained so much LOVE, so much that even such a weak body can stand up to the strongest of monsters. And even then, it wasn't enough.

He didn't want to do this anymore. Only his mother and his father gave him LOVE by now. His LOVE level was too high for anything else to give him EXP. He had laughed in pure insanity after a while. But even insanity had its limits. He guessed that in a way, no matter how much he had tried to embrace the horror of his existence, death had forced him back.

His mother's house stood before him. A small, tidy, cute house isolated in ruins. A place of solitude, sadness, and shame, the symbol of a broken family. A family broken because he was too weak. Because he had neglected LOVE in his first life and had paid the ultimate price for it when he had crossed the barrier into hostile lands. And now, his family was broken and fate had punished him in the most ironic, horrific way possible.

He had neglected LOVE all his life... now, LOVE was all he had left.

He was a coward. Through and thorough. Even now, he struggled to keep his worthless, pointless life going even without hope just because he feared death more. Why did he bother keeping such an empty existence going? Why can't he just let himself die? Or let some of those he had wronged put him out of his misery?

Because he was weak. No matter how high his LOVE, he would forever be weak.

And that same weakness drove him to barge into the house to kill the one who had given him life, that he had loved so much and still loved him, having never truly accepted his death. He tried to channel the same emptiness, the same sadism he had expressed so many times before... but the emptiness proved too strong, the despair and futility of it, too overwhelming.

Why even bother hide his true identity? He hated himself so much. He hated his own sobs as he plunged his half-liquefied vines into her chest, he hated her shock and pain as she saw him. None of it felt good. None of it felt fun. He screamed in desperation, wishing it to be over but it refused. Her incredibly high combined level of love and LOVE made her too durable for that. Even with all of the LOVE he had gained, he couldn't impale her and kill her quickly.

She tried to talk to him, tried to cry, tried to reach out to him. He didn't want any of it. He felt so empty. He remembered that it should hurt yet, he felt nothing. And ironically, that made it feel so much more painful than if he had been able to truly feel it.

He didn't want this anymore. He didn't want anything. He just wanted it to end. But he didn't want to die. He would do anything to not die. And so he struck her. He attacked repeatedly even as she didn't fight back, trying to live without harming her son.

He didn't want the EXP. He didn't want the LOVE. He wanted his life back. He wanted his body back. He wanted his family back. He would give up everything for it. His love and LOVE, his DETERMINATION, his prince title, everything.

But he couldn't. And he needed the LOVE to keep LOADING. To keep RESETTING.

She fell to dust slowly, like she died. And the EXP from this sin added itself to the ocean within him. If his father had seen this, he would be horrified and ashamed. LOVE should be gained from battle, never murder. LOVE without love is sterile, a corrosive power that can only destroy. A SOUL that does not balance love and LOVE is weak, no matter how high the level.

But this is all he have. This is all he is. All he can be. This is what he is reduced to.

And his mother died, the EXP flowed and his LOVE increased. But then, he felt a strange emptiness. A hollow feeling of sorts. And a horror unlike anything he had ever experienced inscribed itself upon his face.

Asriel's pupils shrunk to pinpricks. His entire body froze. Dust swirled around him and though his entire body solidified, death letting go of him, it left the most bitter emptiness in him that he had ever felt.

"No... please god no. Anything but this... anything... anything but this..." He couldn't stop the tears. He tried but he didn't have the strength.

His LOVE had reached its cap. All he could do was reload before he killed his mother. And that was it. That was all that was left of his DETERMINATION. His days of RELOADING and RESETTING are over. He wasted all of his chances at saving himself from this tormented existence. He is now truly, fully stuck.

Asriel screamed.

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	2. Into the Darkness

**OFF:** This is the first proper chapter. I hope you enjoyed the prologue and will like the first actual chapter!

Now for some notes...

 _Italics are thoughts and used for narration during flashbacks and visions._

 **Bolded text is dialogue belonging to some special characters as well as especially loud noises.  
**

Hope this will help!

* * *

 **6FeetUnderTale**

 _Into the Darkness_

* * *

 _A long time ago, the world was plunged into eternal war. Two races competed to rule the world: humans and monsters. Since the dawn of time, they fought, neither able to gain the upper hand._

 _Times of peace and war came and went until someday, humanity struck a decisive blow. The monsters were defeated and the matter settled once and for all._

 _Humanity shown itself merciful though. Out of respect for their old rivals, they spared the monsters and instead of exterminating the survivors, allowed them to rebuild their civilization beneath the earth._

 _To prevent further war, the path between the worlds, , was sealed using the most powerful magic humanity could muster. The two races parted ways and life carried on._

 _Centuries passed..._

* * *

He regretted it. He thought he was ready to leave this world. It had seemed like a good idea, like a way to escape the endless cycle that haunted his nightmares and his waking life. An end, an end to the screaming, to the fists, belts, rulers, and shoes that covered him in bruises. An end to the laughter, to the shoving, to the throwing of things.

The forest atop the mountain was untouched. No one travelled up it, no one dared. All those who climbed it never returned. And everyone suspect, no, knew why. This was the link between the world of humans and the world of monsters. Given they exist.

Still, the decision had been easy. Close his eyes, take a deep breath, jump down the hole, finally end it all. Yet midway through the fall, he had regretted it. It had suddenly dawned upon him what he had done, what was happening.

 _"I don't want to die I don't want to die I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"_

He panicked as he fell. Suddenly, he didn't want to die anymore. But he could not take it back, having already stepped off the edge. All he could see was the walls racing by as he sunk and sunk and sunk and sunk deeper into the darkness. Yellow greeted him in the distance and at first, he found his heart pounding out of its chest at the idea of lava.

No, not lava. Flowers.

Funny. Flowers like those people put on the graves of people in the graveyard near the orphanage. Well, he probably would have found it funny and ironic if he wasn't terrified out of his mind because he's about to die. In fact, he probably wouldn't find it funny even if he was just sitting calmly in his room, thinking over the strange things grown-ups often did.

The flowers and ground up stones reached out to stop his descent. The impact set ablaze every nerve in his body, a sickening snap deafening him. He did not have the time to scream as a strange wave washed over his entire body and mind. The pain was gone, the feeling in his limbs was gone, and everything was washed over by a wall of solid black and crimson. His fear, his thoughts, everything vanished. His name, his very self vanished.

He lost consciousness practically instantly, every single bone in his body broken, nearly every organ smashed to a pulp. His heart tried to pump blood through him but given it currently held the dimensions of a pancake, it couldn't manage it. Not that there was a brain to pump blood to, the grey matter having shaken itself apart in his skull from the violent impact.

Regret did not matter anymore. What he had wanted had come to him, an end. Even though he no longer wanted it.

A heart, faded, with a bit of red to it, was all he could see. Massive cracks could be seen in it. What was this heart? What did it mean?

He didn't want to die after all. That was all a bad idea. If only he could take it back...

 **"You can."**

What was this? He had heard some of the ladies at the orphanage say that when you die, you hear God's voice. Is this God?

 **"Well, if you want to call me this way, why not? Hehe."**

He had pictured that God would sound a bit... more impressive though. The voice sounded oddly tiny.

 **"Hey, don't judge! Anyway, you wanna live, right? Well, I know a way you can. Have you ever heard of DETERMINATION?"**

Determination? He had heard grown-ups talk about it. He had heard children whisper about it. Apparently, it has something to do with magic. Every time he asked about it, the ladies either became annoyed with him, told him to forget about it, or told him that he wasn't old enough for that.

 **"You don't have to die. Gather your DETERMINATION. Focus on what you feel, on what you want to feel. On how you wanted to live. Focus real hard."**

He did so. Oh yes, he wanted to live. He wanted to live so much. He regretted throwing himself into that pit. He just wanted to be alive now.

 **"Good. Good..."**

There was strange strands of red coming out of... somewhere in the ground. Another heart but this one far more vivid in color and somehow wrong. It seemed like pieces forming a heart rather than a full one and it looked semi-transparent. It was all so strange. What was wrong with it?

 **"Let's make a deal. You want to live. I like being alive too. Let's be alive, okay?"**

He tried to speak. What kind of deal is that? It didn't involve actually offering anything or taking anything. But he couldn't speak. And well, he want to be alive.

 **"Don't worry, you can't talk to me yet and I don't need an anwser. Of course you want to live. See that weird fragmented heart? That's me. I can see you have some DETERMINATION but not nearly enough. You're too weak to be alive. But if you take my DETERMINATION, I can save you."**

So he just take the weird heart's DETERMINATION? Sound simple. And he doesn't need to give anything? That was easy!

The cracked heart became as a vortex. The strands of red flowed and the fragments were sucked in. Bright red washed over the cracked, broken heart and merged with it, filling every damaged part. DETERMINATION flowed and before long, the heart was no longer a faint shade of red but a vivid color.

And then, a pulse. DETERMINATION. The heart pumped it powerfully.

He gasped, eyes shooting open. The world spun and before long, he found himself turning so he was on his stomach. Speaking of it, he couldn't control himself. He hurled into the bed of flowers, emptying it. His entire body hurt, everything hurts, his limbs shook incontrollably. Everything spun and was so, so blurry.

When his vision came to, a puddle, deep red and pale yellow, greeted him. His body felt empty and every part of him was hurting. However, despite how hard it was, he managed to stand. His blue and purple stripped shirt was in tatters, his shoes were a mess, everything was a mess. But he was alive.

The voice, it had saved his life.

 **"We are together now."**

 _"You saved me..."_

 **"I am asking only for one thing."**

He froze. A coldness went through him.

 **"I'm just going to watch you. That's all. I'm just going to watch. Don't worry about me. In a few days, you'll have forgotten all about me. I just like watching."**

 _"Really?"_

 **"Yes. See you. And remember... stay determined. Even if your body give up, so long as you don't give up, no one can kill you. See you around."**

And with that said, he had a strange feeling. As if the voice had somehow went away. What had all this been about?

It didn't really matter. He looked up and saw the columns, the flowers, and the sunlight filtering from so high, so high he couldn't hope to go back. How did he survive this fall? That voice, whatever it had done, had somehow managed to save him from that.

But while the happiness of being alive washed over him, he realized another thing. He won't be able to climb back out.

"Frisk, what mess have you gotten yourself in, this time?" he whispered to himself as the sheer extent of his mistake begun to dawn upon him.

It was tempting to just stay there. To let despair wash over him. But he was alive, wasn't he? He didn't really feel like going home but maybe being somewhere less scary would be nice. In fact, being in a house, somewhere warm, somewhere with food might be nice. Oh and maybe have someone do something about all of his bruises and all those other injuries he probably had by now.

Needless to say, if he just remain in that patch of flowers, nothing is gonna happen. So he got up and then looked around. The room was pretty featureless but stepping out of the patch of flowers, he saw what seemed to be a massive stone archway leading deeper inside.

On one hand, he really didn't want to get lost. On another hand... well, he knew he didn't have a choice.

So after gathering his courage, he took a deep breath and moved forward. "Stay determined" he reminded himself. "Stay determined."

Stepping through the archway, he found himself in an even darker room. It was so dark, he couldn't see even his own feet! At first, he really didn't want to move deeper inside but as he focused his gaze forward, he noticed that a bit of light was shining from the ceiling, illuminating an elevated patch of grass. Atop the miniature hill was a really, really weird flower.

Yeah, it was definitely weird. Since when are flowers supposed to have a head of a goat inside? One that was unlike any picture he had ever seen, actually just being as expressive as a human's, at that? Flowers also can't cry and certainly don't sound like kids.

A sad little flower? This was just surreal. Was this just some nightmare? Was he gonna wake up in his room back at the orphanage soon? Well, if he's dreaming, maybe it won't harm to approach the little flower.

Hearing his footsteps, the flower turned to face him and...

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!"

Frisk almost jumped out of his shoes, hand grasping at his chest as his heart seemed to want to escape from his ribcage. He panted, trying to get ahold of his panic. How could something so small roar so loudly? And its face! That's scary! Even the giant monster from that movie he saw wasn't like this! This thing looked like it came from his worst nightmare!

"Huh?" The flower seemed really confused, its voice back to the soft tone it had been before. "Who are you?"

"F-Frisk..." he said slowly, unsure if he should stay anywhere near that creepy flower after all.

"Frisk? You're..." It looked him over then blinked a few times. "You're human, right?"

He nodded quickly twice. The flower seemed confused but as it stared at him some more, he could see the confusion wash away and a smile appear on his face. For some reason, he didn't like that smile. It reminded him of the smiles of the older kids back at the orphanage before they'd steal his toys and punch him in the face.

"You just arrived, didn't you? You just fell down a big pit and BAM, lost in there, right?" Frisk nodded again. It made the weird goat flower's smile widen. "No saves yet? No resets?"

"Huh? Hmmm..." Frisk looked to the side for a moment. He was really not sure what to say. Maybe... not lie? Lying is bad after all... maybe? "I really don't know what you're talking about."

The goat flower seemed overjoyed for some reason. "Perfect! Alright, give me a moment."

The flower bent its stem for a moment and when it lifted its head again, its face had changed. It was now a normal flower... well, as normal as a flower with eyes and a mouth like in a cartoon could be.

"Howdy! I'm Flowey the Flower!" Frisk raised an eyebrow. That... was a really dumb name. Apparently, the flower must have noticed his expression because it became annoyed. "Do you think my name is funny, you idiot?"

"W-well, it's kind of... well... a flower... Flowey..." he tried to explain.

"Fine fine! My name's Asriel Dreemurr! Happy now?!"

"Asriel? Hmmm... alright. That's a nice name. Still, why did you call yourself Flowey earlier?"

"Because if I went around telling everyone my real name they'd..." The flower stopped itself, giving him a flat stare. "You know what? Nevermind."

It rolled its eyes and rebecame all cheery-like. "Anyway! I'm Asriel! It's obvious you're new to the underground. Golly boy must you be confused! Well, someone got to teach you how things work around here! Since I see no one else around here, I guess good old me will have to do! Here we go!"

Before him, he could see white strands of magic rise all over the place. He felt his heart beat especially hard and as he looked down, he was surprised to see himself semi-transparent, the red heart from before now pulsating inside his chest.

"See that heart? That's your SOUL, the culmination of your love, LOVE, and Determination! In short, it's all that you are, all condensed in a cute little package. Of course, your SOUL start out weak but with love and LOVE, your SOUL will grow strong."

Love and LOVE? The two words seemed so similar and yet, there was a difference for some reason. Frisk spoke up. "Love? LOVE? You say it can make me strong?" Being strong sounds nice. If he was stronger maybe he wouldn't have to be afraid of people hurting him. Still, should he ask? That flower was quite creepy earlier. But then, well, it did seem to want to help him now and well, if he had learnt anything at the orphanage, it's that you don't reject help, no matter how mean the person was earlier.

"Can you tell me more?"

"Heh! I knew you'd want some LOVE! Alright!" Strands of white shot out of the flower and gathered above it, forming five small white spheres. "LOVE is shared around here using little... friendliness pellets. Here! Move around! Catch as many as you can!"

White balls? Frisk looked as the strange spheres begun to fly forward. At first, he was scared that Asriel would throw them violently at him but as he saw them fly, he noticed how slowly they moved. Well, this doesn't seem so bad. Maybe he can get stronger from them!

He walked to the left, finally feeling his fear start to go away. Even with their slow flight speed, he knew he probably would not be able to catch them all because of his bruises but well, if he got even one, then good, right?

He reached out to the one he could reach in time and closed his fingers around it...

Pain flared through his hand. The sphere tore his skin open. Frisk screamed, crimson liquid splattering down to the ground, his hand blasted open, the bullet having almost severed the fingers off his hand. His vision became blurry as tears flowed into his field of vision.

Why did he trust Asriel? Why did he give him a chance? He should have known he was going to hurt him! Just one more bully taking advantage of him...

"YES! You fell for it!" The flower's face became a deformed smile with visible fangs, his eyes glowing. Despite the pain, Frisk found himself frozen in fear, unable to look away. "In this world, for you, it will be to kill or be killed! They will want your SOUL! All of them! But I am lucky I got to you first, hehehe!"

The flower's voice wasn't friendly either anymore. It was a raspy, scatching voice, like the voice from a movie's bad guy. It occured to him that this wasn't a nightmare, that this was very real. Away! He had to get away! But as he tried to get back up and run, strands of white energy shot from Asriel like crazy and gathered all around him, forming a sphere of bullets. Every direction greeted him with a bullet. He was trapped.

"Your precious SOUL! The ability to FEEL! Finally! I will no longer be a flower! Your SOUL is mine, Frisk! MINE!"

The flower screamed in rage, closing in the sphere of bullets. But just as the sphere was about to hit him, a glow could be seen from the back of the room. Asriel turned in time just to see the fireball flying straight at him.

It slammed straight into his face, setting him on fire. "NO! I WAS SO CLOSE! NOW, I WON'T EVER GET ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY!" Asriel's monstrous visage disappeared as he sunk into the ground and with him did the bullets.

Frisk grasped his bleeding hand, adrenaline having dulled the pain. But while he found himself relieved that Asriel was chased away, a question haunted him. Where did that fireball come from?

Loud footsteps. Something huge, a gigantic shadow. Frisk's eyes widened and he froze as he saw a gigantic figure approaching. It was taller than any grown-up he had ever seen, taller than anything he had ever seen. And it had glowing, scary eyes. He found himself hyperventilating. What kind of crazy place is this? A flower tried to kill him and now there's some sort of giant monster?

Why did he come here? Why?

The figure stepped into the light, slamming a giant staff into the ground, its glowing eyes boring into him...

... and Frisk found himself with his mind blank of any thought. He struggled to grasp the absurdity of the situation.

What appeared to be the largest person he had ever seen in his life was standing before him. A goat-like figure, with huge hands and a horned head, long floppy ears by the sides of its head. Yet, despite its sheer size, the impressive robes, the wicked-looking staff that pulsated with light... its face was gentle, even motherly as it looked down on him with an expression had had so rarely seen. Pity. Actual, sincere pity.

"Don't worry my child." Its voice was so soft that if he didn't know the goat lady was the source of it, he wouldn't believe it actually came from her. "I will not allow this wicked creature to harm you further."

She glanced to the spot where Asriel had disappeared, her face stern. "Such a vile creature. One should never fight one so much weaker than you. Least of all an innocent child."

She then turned to him and approached him. She smiled at him, kneeling as to make herself less intimidating. "You're hurt. Don't worry, I will heal you."

She pointed the staff at him. Strands of green errupted from the small ball at the tip of it. For a moment, Frisk was afraid the lady would hurt him like the flower did... but as the green light shrouded him, he felt his weariness fade away like a bad dream. His bruises, his blasted hand, all of his injuries faded leaving him with a sense of great relief. He still felt exhausted but all of the pain just went away. He looked down and he saw that though dirty and blood-drenched, his hand was completely healed. In fact, if it wasn't from the sticky crimson liquid, one wouldn't be able to guess his hand had been injured at all previously.

He looked at it, amazed for a moment before looking up to see the lady smile gently at him, her free hand opened, as if offering to lead him. "Come my child. You have nothing to fear. I will protect you."

He grabbed the offered hand, lifting himself to his feet. As the goat lady led him out of the room, he looked on. For some reason, the cave ahead was well-lit despite the lack of any lamps or anything. In fact, it was all purple and stoney, like entering an old city like in the news about distant towns he'd probably never see.

The floor was cracked and covered in dust. Cracks could be seen everywhere as well as loose bricks. Ruins of sorts. A bed of leaves was ahead and he saw a great staircase leading even deeper in. The goat lady let go of his hand and left him a moment to gaze upon the entrance to the next section of the underground.

Frisk smiled. He focused on how kind that goat lady was, on the relief as she chased away Asriel, on how he would live and make sure to stay that way. He did not know why Asriel had spoken of taking his SOUL or why everyone would want it. Or why he had been so mean to begin with.

But it didn't matter. He would move forward with this goat lady. He would enter those ruins.

The sight of the ruins' entrance before him and his renewed resolve to survive filled him with DETERMINATION.

And a star errupted before the entrance. The goat lady had seen it too for she smiled and nodded knowingly to him.

He did not know what it all meant. Not yet. But he would remain determined. That, he knew.

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	3. First Steps

**OFF:** Thank you for the reviews! I'm glad my story is entertaining! I was a bit afraid of driving off readers since the first few chapters are pretty dark.

A large part of why I wrote this is because of the butteflies it will cause ; things diverge from canon and while some events are similar, the execution will likely cause them to shift significantly in tone and content. Likewise, another change is that I am expanding on Frisk as a character ; instead of a rather "empty" protagonist, I aim to fully characterize him, with him starting out as a frightened child at the start of the story.

I hope you will all find that this was worth the wait! If anyone has comments or thoughts about any of the chapters, feel free to share them.

* * *

 **6FeetUnderTale**

 _First Steps_

* * *

The goat lady certainly was weird. No one had ever really been this nice to him before and well, he just hadn't been sure what to think of it. After a while, he had decided just to smile and to bask in the attention. It felt good, better than anything he had ever felt. It reminded him of how the other kids at the orphanage spoke of their parents. It reminded him of the stories some of them told of their mom and dad.

And she was so careful too! Still, what a strange place to live in! Everything was so big, so dusty. Why was everything so ruined, too? And what had been that star earlier? He guessed it wasn't important due to the goat lady not mentioning it. Which reminds him. He should refer to her as Toriel. She said she was the caretaker of this place.

Caretaker how, exactly? If she was supposed to take care of this place, why is everything so dusty and filled with cracks? Well, the plants are all very healthy and the purple paint on the walls is all very vivid. Maybe she didn't bother trying to remove the dust? He had tried to clean up all of the dust at the orphanage for a whole week once. He never tried again after that point. No wonder the janitor had been so lazy!

Monsters sure are weird. Instead of locks for doors, they used puzzles. It sure was a lot more fun! But it sounded and felt kind of time-consuming. But well, at least he could understand that. Better than grown-ups who put locks on stuff no one would steal anyway. Still, what if a bad guy figured out the solution to the puzzles?

Not that he really thought about that. Frankly, he was very glad for Toriel having labeled all the solutions. It all looked kind of complicated to say the truth.

As they walked, Toriel moved ahead, having said something about some more puzzles. While she did that, he remained alone in some dusty hall, looking over the walls and once again wondering why Toriel made sure they retained their vivid purple color but didn't repair the cracks. He also wondered if this place was completely abandonned apart from Toriel being here. But then, who would live here? Well, apart from people with no house and kids with no parents.

On second thought, it might be best if only Toriel lived here.

Suddenly, a gasp and everything became kind of weird. Magic flowed around him and he looked down to see his SOUL visible in his semi-transparent body. What was this all about? There was a dull thud and he looked forward to see what appeared to be the largest frog he had ever seen in his life. The thing was massive! It had to be several times the size of a big dog to the point that it was easily half his height! How did that frog grow so big?

But then, looking more carefully, he saw that its belly was kinda weird. As if there... were... eyes... down... there.

Oh. A monster! It's a monster!

"Ribbit." Said the weird frog monster. "You seem about the same strength as me! Fight?"

"Fight? Why would we do that? What did I do to you? I was just minding my own business! Please don't hurt me!" cried out Frisk, struggling not to trip over his own feet.

Is every monster apart from Toriel a bully? What did he do for that monster to want to hurt him?

"Hmmm... please relax. I just wanted to fight. I didn't mean to scare you, kid weird monster thing. If you're lost, I can just..."

The confused frog's words died in its throat as Toriel's staff slammed into the floor violently, shaking the entire room. The massive goat lady gave him a flat stare, a mildly annoyed expression on her face as she towered high above it. The Froggit became suddenly very much aware of its place in the greater order of things and wisely decided to back off. It knew from experience that Lady Toriel was sufficiently powerful that she didn't even need to use magic to subdue it. A simple swing from its staff would send the frog monster flying all the way from the Ruins to Snowdin. It knew that from experience. It didn't even bother to ask why trying to pick a fight with that monster kid was somehow wrong. It just left quietly.

As the Froggit left, the magic it had released all over the place faded and everything went back to normal. Toriel approached the human child as it struggled to get a hold of itself after this frightening experience.

"Toriel. I didn't do anything! I... I'm sorry. I..."

"Tch tch, calm down child. Everything is okay." Said the towering monster, slowly calming down. She brought a hand to his cheer and slid it to his chin, raising it, making him look at her. "You did nothing wrong."

"It said it wanted to fight. Why was it mean to me? I don't understand..."

Toriel smiled gently, slightly amused, as if he had said something funny. "It probably just wanted to get stronger and thought it could fight with you, not realizing how scared you were. Don't worry. I will teach you all about fighting when we get to the dummy room."

Getting stronger? The first time a monster told him about getting stronger, his hand was blasted to chunks and it screamed in a scary voice, trying to turn him to swiss cheese. He wasn't so sure about that anymore. And fighting doesn't exactly sound like something he'd want to do. Still, Toriel had saved his life, been nothing but nice, and had driven off that bully. So he calmed down and followed her.

It had been a small voice at first. He knew he had been doing it subconsciously until now but as he reached the puzzle involving scary, sharp-looking giant spikes, he began to question the logic of this place and the sanity of monsters. Switches was something he could understand and were a bit fun even. But big spikes?

He questioned his decision to throw himself into that pit more and more. He had done that earlier, okay but now he was doing it even more. Well, maybe not. But he was still doing it. This place is crazy.

Thankfully, the next room did not have any bullies or spikes or anything that wanted to fold, crush, cut, squash, electrocute, impale, poison, fry, and otherwise hurt him. That was good. What it did have was a weird doll thing that had a head like a stuffed duck. It looked funny, with its large button eyes.

Toriel looked at him for a moment, her free hand on her chin, observing him. "You don't happen to have a weapon on you, wouldn't you?"

He shook his head.

"Then can you fire projectiles or conjure any sort of energy with your mind?"

Again, he shook his head.

"Truly as much of an innocent child as you look, don't you?" That caused her to smile. "It's alright."

She walked up to a dead tree in the corner, looked at it, and then with lightning speed grabbed one of the tinier, dry branches and tore it off as if it was nothing. She looked at the stick over and then squeezed it a few times. She stared at it carefully and then tilted it slowly to one side then to the other. Then she swung it a bunch of times. Soon, she was swinging it in complicated motions, so fast it was like a blur, causing swooshing sounds as she did. Then she nodded to herself, satisfied.

She handed the stick to him, smiling. "Here. I know it isn't exactly Royal Guard equipment material but it will do."

Frisk held out his hands and grasped the stick. Toriel had chosen the stick very carefully and while it wasn't as carefully weighted and balanced as an actual weapon, it felt light in his hands and yet, sufficiently heavy that if he hit someone with it, it would probably knock out that person without breaking.

Toriel walked up to the dummy and then turned to face him. "Love, LOVE, Determination. They are the componements of the SOUL and through them, one get stronger. In battle, the SOUL is revealed. And through it, conflicts are resolved. Sometimes, conflicts are resolved by dialogue and compassion, increasing love. Other times, they are resolved through contests of strength and agility, increasing LOVE. Together, they allow for Determination to blossom."

Her face became stern. "Fighting is dangerous however. Sometimes, accidents happen. A spell can strike a bit too hard. Someone can hit a vital organ by mistake while swinging. And not every monster is nice. Some are disbalanced, having too much LOVE in their soul and far too little love. A child like you shouldn't fight." She shown him a gentle expression. "If a monster drags you into a fight, just stall for time and I will resolve the conflict for you."

Toriel turned to the dummy and then motionned to Frisk to come over. "So until you're older, this dummy should suffice as an opponent. Do you wish to train for a bit? If not, I would understand. I know that children tend to see this as more of a chore than anything else. Still, I can help if you wish to take some time before we get home."

Monsters fought to gain love and LOVE? He could certainly understand wanting to become stronger. He knew that people could train to become stronger. After all, that was why he could walk for so long without getting winded. He walked so much back at the orphanage that even with his shoes wrecked like this, it will take a long time for his feet to start aching again. However, there were some things he did not quite understand.

"So I can train to become stronger?"

"Of course, my child."

"But if that's that case, if people can train to become stronger, why fight at all? Why fight if people get hurt?"

Toriel seemed pleased by his question somehow. "You're quite perceptive. It's good to be curious like this. To anwser your question, there is a limit to how much stronger you can get just by training."

She pointed to the dummy. "Training alone or with a dummy can make your body stronger. But a dummy can't talk back. It doesn't feel. When you fight, your SOUL and that of your opponent is revealed. All of your emotions, all that you are, is laid bare. In the way people fight and resolve conflicts, you can learn more about them. Rivalries and friendships are forged, emotions clash, words and magic fly. Some fight with their fists, others with their fangs, some with magic, and there's those who do so with words without needing to touch their opponents. The ways conflicts can be resolved are endless."

Fighting reveals the SOUL? Frisk wasn't so sure he understood that to say the truth. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to him. He had never learnt anything much from bullies apart from the fact that they were smug, arrogant, mean, and liked to see him hurt. He also didn't know much about Asriel either. Well, apart from the fact that he's really, really scary.

Still, Toriel said it helped one become stronger. He guessed that was nice. Frankly, he'd rather not get hurt.

"As I said, you'll understand once you get older. For now, I want to see your initial levels. Imagine that this dummy is your enemy and act."

He looked at the dummy. Imagine it as the enemy? He focused, his grip on his stick becoming harder.

"HIYA!" He let out a war cry, frankly a really lame one, and jumped forward, bringing the stick down and smacking the dummy's head. His swing went nearly wide, not being especially well aimed by any mean. He just couldn't put his heart into it.

For some reason, Toriel sweatdropped and then shook her head, rolling her eyes before shrugging. "You really, REALLY are innocent, aren't you? It's alright my child."

Had he done something wrong? It seemed he did. He frowned deeply, ashamed.

"Don't make that face. That was a good, honest effort. However, you should not be so quick to resort to violence. What if the dummy had just wanted to trade words with you or to show off the latest magic spell it learnt? You should take the time to examine your enemy and communicate before resorting to blows. Sometime, it can be possible to resolve a conflict without anyone attacking even once."

That oddly made a lot of sense. Greeting people by hitting them in the face was indeed rather mean. Still, if that was the case, why call it a fight? Monsters are really, really weird. Still, if it makes Toriel happy...

He turned to the dummy and spoke up. "Hmmm... sorry about hitting you over the head with that stick?" He was talking to an inanimate dummy. It made him feel like a gigantic dummy. "Well..." He glanced around the room, feeling stupid. "What do you think of the weather?" He felt even more stupid. They're in strange ruins that are probably kilometers underground. There's no weather to speak of.

Still, Toriel looked very pleased. "Good. Now imagine that dummy wish to proceed with the fight. Normally, I'd have resolved the situation by now but let's assume I'm just a tiny bit late. Now is the time to whack it with your stick. In a real fight, you'll want to knock out your foe but not hurt it too badly but since this is training, show me what you can do."

Okay. Again, he focused. He let out a war cry, feeling absolutely stupid while doing so, and once again swinging his stick. This time, his swing just plain went wide and he almost lost his balance as he missed. Embarassment gripped him as he pictured Toriel sweatdropping again.

He needed to hit it! He gripped his stick harder and brought it into a diagonal swing. The dummy barely moved. His eyes were widened as he once again imagined Toriel's disappointment. Who was he kidding? He had never been much of a fighter at all. He couldn't hurt a fly if he tried. Still, he focused on that expression and he spun the stick for a second strike.

The head jostled a bit but beyond that, nothing much. A voice called, he didn't listen. He didn't want to disappoint her. He had already sounded and acted so stupidly, first lashing out without taking the time to even pretend to talk and then saying stupid, inane things that would make anyone with a brain laugh. None of this made sense, anyway!

 **SMASH!**

His hands gripped the stick as he swung it horizontally and in a straight, flawless motion, slammed into the side of the dummy so hard that it was knocked to the side and smashed into the ground with a deafening thud. Frisk completed the motion gracefully, holding the stick without even the hint of shaking. He breathed slowly and after a short while, it occured to him that he was gripping the stick so hard his fingers were aching and that a feeling of incredible anger was burning inside him.

He surveyed the way he had just thrown the dummy to the side, smashing it so hard that it was now unstitched, fluff all over the floor. Had... he done this? Had he truly managed this? How? He doesn't know how to fight! He can barely hit anything even when he tries! In fact, it occured to him that he was standing in a strange pose, his grip on the stick different and far more solid than before.

He blinked a few times. That hadn't been like him at all. What had all of this been about? Looking at Toriel, she certainly seemed as confused as he was about it all.

"Well, you sure have a lot of hidden strength! Don't worry about that dummy. I will repair it later. I guess this will be enough training for now." She offered to hold his hand. "Now, how about we think about more pleasant subjects? We still have a little way until my house. Come."

Glad to take his mind off of that weird event, he walked up to her and grabbed her hand. Maybe what she said was true. He didn't really believe it but well, the result had spoken for itself.

For now, he guessed it was back to the puzzles and to walking while she spoke pleasantly with him. Frankly, the less he thought about fighting, the better. He'd rather not hurt anyone if he could help it.

* * *

Unknown to the human child, a figure watched, following the both of them. His petals were a bit singed and the goat-like head within had half of its fur missing, with burn marks showing where he had failed to put out the fire but still, Asriel had survived the attack.

Of course, that did not change the fact that he could not reload or reset anymore. Unless the child reset, he would not be able to try again. Even then, his trick would never have a chance of working again. There had to be a way for him to snatch that human's soul!

Thus, he decided to start watching the human's behavior. Surely the kid will be left alone, away from mom, for at least one moment? He frowned angrily. He knew far too well that his mother was extremely protective and would never let the kid out of her sights. But then, maybe the kid's curiosity would get the better out of it?

When the two journeyed together, he hoped that he would get his chance. He nearly got it, too. Toriel left the child alone while hiding behind a pillar, probably to test its independance. Yes! It was his chance! He tried to pop up near the child... only to notice Toriel's careful gaze and the child's brisk pace.

No, he did not get a chance. Then as mom went on ahead, he thought he'd get a second chance... only for Froggits and other dumb monsters to start showing up. Too many witnesses! If he claim Frisk's soul when others can see it, everyone will know that his soul will be that of a human's, not his original one. And they will demand he bring it to his father.

That won't do. There must be no witnesses. And if he... eliminate... any witnesses, it will alert his mom or worse yet, the Royal Guard. He's not scared of Undyne. He has managed to defeat her on occasion. But Sans and Papyrus are serious bad news. While he can catch Papyrus off-guard by appealing to his better nature, Sans is far more difficult to catch. And even then, it's all a moot point because the surviving brother beats him, with either Sans dusting him or Papyrus capturing him with no hope of escape.

No. He can't kill the kid now.

So he simply watched. He watched as they made it home. He snorted to himself, eyes narrowing as he glared at the house. A miniature of his father's castle, a mockery. If only all the children mom rescued knew the real reason why she had left father.

Not that it mattered. Without emotion, boredom was nowhere near as intense as when he had a soul, leaving him with nearly infinite patience. And as such, he decided to wait for his opportunity.

As days passed, he realized his patience wasn't as infinite as he thought. That kid was obviously some kind of coward starved for love. He just soaked it up like a sponge. He was never apart from mom, always hanging with her.

Hunting snails, fishing in the small rivers, reading books, training, showing him the remains of Home and introducing him to the other monsters...

He remembered such activities. He remembered when mom would take him to do such things. Well, minus showing him the ruins of Home for obvious reasons. Still, as he saw that worthless human being showered with love that once was shown to him, when he saw how mom had effectively replaced him...

His hatred for Frisk grew.

He is going to tear out that bastard's soul out very slowly. He will make sure the human screams in complete agony as life is stripped out of him.

He was also worried, internally. He knew that with his capped LOVE that he was technically one of the strongest monsters in the underground and this, even with a fragile flower body. He also knew that without real fights, Frisk could only get so strong from training with dummies. But there was just something about the way he wielded that stick that disturbed him.

For someone who looked like a wuss, Frisk had an awful lot of talent when it came to combat. Or was it really the case? Whenever Frisk really got into combat, his eyes got kind of... weird. They glowed. Okay, the eyes of monsters glowing is normal but he knew from having lived with his adoptive brother that human eyes did not glow.

So what was the deal with it?

Asriel soon found himself bored out of his mind, just watching the kid live with his mom everyday. It was kind of depressing. A coward and his mom, just doing crushingly boring stuff. He couldn't stand it. The boredom was such, he almost missed it.

Tension. At first, he thought Frisk was getting sick of his mom. That would have been great. But instead, he saw what was going to happen.

His mom begun to stand guard by the exit of the ruins. Frisk wanted to leave. That would have been great news... if he hadn't somehow screwed up something and had alerted Toriel to his intentions, causing her to stand guard.

The other kids had just snuck past her. But now that Frisk had revealed his intentions, mom was never going to let him leave. That's... frustrating.

How long will his flower body live? He heard humans live close to fifty years, up to a century or so when really lucky. Do he have the time to wait for the human to die of old age so he can snatch that soul?

Oh god. NO! He don't want to wait that long! He can't! If he doesn't wilt by then, boredom will kill him!

Then something happened. He couldn't believe what he saw.

They fought. Little innocent, naive, stupid Frisk fought mom. Well, that's rich! What was he trying to achieve, really? Mom is, or rather used to be freakishly strong!

At first, he thought this would be his opportunity. But then, the impossible happened.

Yeah, mom was holding back... but she stopped fighting. Frisk somehow managed to get to her and to stop her. Despite the fact that his mom was determined, that she was clearly wanting to protect him by keeping him here, he managed to errode her will to fight and defeat her.

Frisk beat his mom. Somehow.

Asriel could barely believe it. No human that had fallen down had managed to beat a boss monster. They could sneak past them, befriend or dust a few low rank monsters... but none had ever defeated a boss monster fair and square. And this, despite a few of them gathering a fair amount of love and LOVE.

And now this kid, with barely any LOVE and only the love his mom had showered him with, had managed to defeat her. She kneeled before him, dropped her staff, and gave him a hug in an expression of both love and submission.

How?

Asriel was confused. But after thinking on it, the realization fully filtered into his mind and he found himself smiling. It was not a nice smile at all.

Thus, as Frisk emerged out of the ruins and into the grassy room that separated the old ruins from the greater underground, he encountered the mean flower monster from before.

Asriel grinned cruelly, basking in the child's fear as he recognized him.

"Howdy! So you've managed to get past the old cow and to make it this far despite her standing in your way. Good job! Gosh, you really must feel great about sparing a person's life like this!"

Seeing no response other than Frisk looking terrified, he decided to just continue his little speech. "Aw, are you scared? Don't worry! I'm not gonna kill ya! Nope! I changed my mind on that." He glanced to the side and gave the human an incredibly smug grin. "Instead, I'll be watching you. You see, you may act all high and mighty with your little innocense and 'I don't wanna hurt anyone' little act but you must have heard what the cow had to say, isn't it?"

The kid mumbled something. He blinked once, wondering why Frisk wasted his time with such a pointless action.

"So as the cow said."

"Her name is Toriel." The child whispered.

"Hummm..." Asriel was not liking the way this was going. He wanted to just berrate the kid for his insolence but here he was, standing up to him.

"Her name is Toriel!"

He pondered giving in to that empty anger that never left him. It was always so comforting. But then, he realized that Frisk was finally, at long last, showing a backbone! That was much better, actually! This removed his bad mood for sure.

"Oh my! It seems you're finally feeling determined! That's good. Saving and resetting, she never explained them to you, didn't she?"

Seeing the kid's expression as it failed to shift, he knew he had guessed right. Figures. "Determination allows the creation of stars, save points. Through Determination, you can go back. You can redo things. You can... learn. It is a power like that of a god! A power I wielded, too. But I wouldn't get cocky, my friend! Determination is not your lone gift. Gosh! It would be embarassing to reload or reset, thinking you can manipulate someone only to find they remember everything thanks to their own Determination, isn't it? But don't worry!"

He gave the foolish child an insincere smile. "Your best friend Asriel has Determination! Loads of it! If you reload or reset, I will remember everything, no matter what you do!" He turned his grin into a sinister one, allowing his eyes to start glowing. "I will remember your mistakes, your sins."

"I... I won't do anything like that!"

"Will you?" he said. "Sure, you spared that old lady. An old lady that is all cotton candy and love children. But what will you do when you'll meet a relentless killer? You'll die. And you'll die. Then you'll die some more. Will you then kill out of frustration? Or fear? Or will you simply give up or run out of Determination?"

His grin became unnaturally wide. "Hehe! There is nothing to worry about though, Frisk! Once you die, your best friend will be right there, by your side. And then, your soul will be MINE! Gosh! Isn't it just wonderful to have such a dependable friend? To not be as alone as you are?"

"You're... you're completely insane."

"Thank you! I think you already said something to that effect last time we met. Anyway! You have places to go and I have stood in your way long enough. Toodles!"

And with that said, Asriel sunk into the ground, leaving the child alone.

Frisk stood before the great gate. A gust of cold wind blew from the entrance to the underground's depths. There was only one way to go... forward. And so, despite the fear and the disturbing speech by the flower, the child stepped forward.

Leaving behind what had been his second home, Frisk gathered all of his courage and stepped into the unknown.

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	4. Break your bones

**OFF:** Guess I either have bad timing for submitting my story or there's just something with it that drive off readers. I wonder if it's because of the darker atmosphere, the characterization of the characters, or the different focus compared to the usual fanfic. But I've noticed a dearth of reviews and follows for the story. Oh well.

I hope people will read and enjoy this new chapter! To the few who followed from the time the previous chapters were posted, I hope it will prove to have been worth the wait.

* * *

 **6FeetUnderTale**

 _Break your bones_

* * *

It was still early in the morning. The magic from the CORE was flowing through the ceiling of the great underground network, shining light at just the right intensity to emulate morning. Of course, it wasn't an actual morning and the skies were black, no blue. Still, it was the closest to morning that could be achieved. A definitively great technological advancement to be sure! Still, it had taken years for some of the monsters to adjust to the intense light after having lived in the dark for so long and some parts of the underground still lack the artificial lights, like Waterfall.

Frisk didn't have a way of knowing this though. To him, it was just a big, dark, silent forest filled with nothing but shadows, the howling wind, and fear. Pine trees as far as the eye can perceive, shadows within shadows. After the warmth of Toriel's embrace, the cold air battered against his sweater mercilessly. It occured to him that unless he can find a safe place, he'd likely just freeze to death. Already, he missed Toriel's house. He almost found himself with tears in his eyes at the idea of what he had just abandonned only to freeze in the middle of nowhere.

No. He cannot stay. Not after what he was told. If the monsters want his Soul... then they shall get it. And he knows that Asriel is watching. Hints of white fur and golden petals haunted every glance. Was he imagining things?

Footsteps. Not his own. He turned around but there was no one.

More footsteps. No one to his left or to his right.

The forest became more twisted, warped. The path was no longer straight, the snow no longer undisturbed. There were massive trees, their trunks pointing at unnatural angles, some outright split in two. Massive branches and felled trees stood in the way. He meekly climbed over the obstructions, wondering if the wind had caused this. Then after a moment, he hoped it was actually the wind that caused this.

A deafening cacophony almost caused him to jump out of his shoes.

When he looked behind him, the felled trees and branches had been torn apart and hurled off the path as if they had been nothing but toys. What had caused this? What was going on? Was this related to the footsteps? Terror gripped his heart, his breathing accelerated. He began to run.

Footsteps. Getting closer. Even as he sped up, the footsteps kept getting closer. Panic gripped him. Whimpers of terror almost forced themselves out of his throat.

He tripped. The snow was freezing and the cold burnt his hands. He pushed himself to turn around and to scurry away from whatever was pursuing him around. Sharp stones and twigs greeted the palm of his hands. Adrenaline completely dulled the pain.

He froze. A figure was towering over him, wearing a dark blue sweater, a hoodie hiding the being's face. But it wasn't human despite its shape. The single blue glowing eye in the darkness revealed its true nature.

A hint of green. As terrifying as the figure was, he found himself wishing he never taken his eyes off the figure. Massive pine trees were floating almost lazily about the being, a massive blizzard raised around it.

With a wave of its hand, the figure sent the trees and snow flying off as if they were nothing, causing a small earthquake.

 _I don't wanna die I don't wanna die I don't wanna die_ , Frisk thought to himself. Tears welled up as the figure stepped closer. He couldn't help it. "Please don't kill me. Please..." he begged.

It brought a hand out of its pockets. A skeletal hand, devoid of flesh, white as death. An inhuman hand. It reached out to him, probably to choke him and tear the life out of him. Frisk curled up, trembling in pure terror.

He expected pain. He expected to be torn apart or choked. He expected a lot of things. The last thing he had expected was for nothing to happen. Yet, this is exactly what happened.

Seconds passed, then a full minute and no harm came to him. No sounds echoed. And as he slowly opened his eyes, he saw the hooded figure. The light in the hoodie was gone, leaving a pair of smaller white lights instead. It still had its hand offered, as if patiently waiting for him to grab into it.

Hesitently, he reached out and grabbed it.

 **pfrffrfrrr**

Frisk's mind ceased working. He just stood there, absolutely baffled, forgetting all about the cold or his fear. He just blinked once, struggling to comprehend the sheer absurdity of what had just happened. Had he just grabbed into a whoopee cushion?

He looked at the hand more carefully and more exactly, the bony wrist. And he saw it, a whoopee cushion. That skeletal being of sorts had been stalking him... to make him grab a whoopee cushion? That couldn't be right? That would be just... absurd, right?

"i know that muddy snow you're sitting in might be mighty comfortable to you right now but i think humans tend to catch cold if they freeze their butt like this. so how about you get up and introduce ourselves?"

Oh. Oh yeah. The cold. It's really cold and really dirty on the ground. He finally got up, the weird being helping him up. As it did, it also removed its hoodie with its free hand, revealing...

Well, he had expected something. A skull was not that surprising. But he had expected it to be terrifying, not to be kind of weird, sporting a gigantic grin right out of a cartoon. He blinked a few times, his confusion only growing further.

"anyway, the name's sans. glad to meet ya. what's your name?"

Frisk just stared, blinking a few times. The skeleton let go of his hand and slipped it back into his pockets, rolling its eyes. "what's the matter? don't you know how to greet a new pal?"

"A new pal?"

"yep. you wanna be friends, right?"

Just about everything the skeleton said kept baffling Frisk. What kind of insane monster is that? First acting like a thing right out of his nightmares, then doing that weird gag, and now this? Frisk had suspected many things could possibly happen when leaving the ruins. He had thought he would maybe meet scary monsters or on the opposite, maybe another one who would care for him like Toriel did. But this? He had not been prepared for this. He had never imagined a situation like this would occur.

Still, given the way the skeleton had been, somehow, been hurling giant trees like it was nothing, he REALLY didn't want to get on its bad side. So he nodded very energically, trying to look enthusiastic and to hide his fear.

"good. oh and you can calm down. you're a human, right?"

He nodded weakly. The grinning skeleton's expression did not shift. "that's kinda hilarious. you see, i'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans. cuz' i'm a sentry of the royal guard. you know, capture humans, bring them to the king, yada yada?"

Frisk froze completely, his eyes widened. Oh no.

"but y'know what? i don't really care about capturing anybody." Huh? What did that skeleton say?

The monster took a few steps to the side and pulled a hand out of one of its pockets, putting it against his chin. "my brother though? papyrus's a total human-hunting fanatic."

Frisk found himself shuddering. If that monster's brother was as scary as he was...

Before he could complete the thought, the skeleton turned to face him again. "don't worry though. he's harmless."

The skeleton was staring at the ceiling. Odd how he was still smiling, his expression never changing. For a moment, Frisk found himself wondering if he was truly smiling or if it was his natural expression.

"i have a favor to ask of you."

"Hmmm... a favor? What do you want, mister skeleton?"

"please call me sans. that's not the favor, by the way." said the skeleton. "you see, my bro, he..."

The skeleton glanced and saw something in the distance. Frisk couldn't help but notice the eye sockets physically shrink and disappear, the monster actually blinking. Skeletons should not be able to blink! Still, that weirdo did blink. Not only that but he begun to fiddle with something in his pockets and took out... huh? A lamp? A huge lamp that actually look... sorta like him? In a weird shape sense?

"don't move. just gotta deal with somethin'."

The skeleton put the lamp right in front of him. "i'll tell you when you can move."

Frisk could only glance a bit from behind the lamp as a second skeleton stomped forward. But while the first skeleton had been quite diminutive and strangely ordinary in its choice of clothing, the second one was... well... it had to be about eight feet tall. In fact, its upper body was far too oval, with no rib cage showing, to be natural. It had massive, vertical teeth that couldn't be human and what appeared to be a permanent grin plastered on its visage. A long red scarf flapped in the wind, completing the absurd image.

"SANS!" Its voice was also incredibly loud, each word tearing through the air like thunder.

"Hey, 'sup bro?" The smaller skeleton was completely and utterly unfazed.

The taller skeleton was obviously fuming, managing as much anger as it possibly could in both its stare and voice. "YOU KNOW WHAT 'SUP, BRO! IT'S BEEN MORE THAN A WEEK AND YOU! STILL! HAVEN'T! RECALIBRATED YOUR PUZZLES!"

The taller skeleton pointed at a wooden counter with a snow-covered roof on the side. "ALL YOU DO IS HANG AROUND YOUR STATION ALL DAY! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?"

"doing my job. waiting for humans to pass by."

"IF YOU ACTUALLY DID THAT, YOU WOULD HAVE TAKEN THE TIME TO RECALIBRATE YOUR PUZZLES AND TO HELP ME WITH MY PATROLS! AND I SPENT THE PREVIOUS TIMELINE WATCHING YOU! ALL YOU DO IS SLEEP!"

"calm down, papyrus. no need to blow your determination like that. relax. take it easy."

"BUT WHAT IF A HUMAN PASSES BY HERE? I WANT TO BE READY! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE THE HUMAN!"

Frisk had no idea why the shorter skeleton was pumping its brother into such a rage. Was this supposed to be funny? The taller brother was stomping the ground in sheer frustration by now. If this was a cartoon, steam would probably shoot out of its skull from how upset it was.

"THIS IS MY LAST CHANCE, SANS! IF I MISS THE SEVENTH HUMAN, I WON'T HAVE ANOTHER ONE!"

"hey, we did eventually meet up with all six, didn't we? so why are you so stressed about it?"

The tall skeleton's anger instantly evaporated. Well, not that. Rather, it went from anger to exhasperation, the taller skeleton glaring openly at the shorter one. Frisk could swear that its eyes had narrowed in annoyance, somehow.

"HA. HA. VERY FUNNY. YEAH, WE MET THEM. WHEN THEY WERE FIRST SIGHTED OR CAPTURED BY OTHER SENTRIES. SENTRIES WHO, UNLIKE YOU, ACTUALLY DO THEIR JOB!"

"hey, maybe we did meet them in some timelines first? you know, deleted ones?"

"I'VE RESET FIFTEEEN TIMES, SANS! FIFTEEN! AND WE NEVER MANAGED TO CATCH A HUMAN FIRST. NOT ONE TIME! EVEN LESSER DOG CAUGHT A HUMAN IN AT LEAST ONE TIMELINE!"

"hey, lesser dog got a good nose and-

"AND HE CAN BE PLACATED JUST BY PETTING HIM! WE'RE EASIER TO SNEAK BY AND DEFEAT THAN A DOG WHO PLAYS POKER AGAINST HIMSELF AND LOSE!"

The tall skeleton wavered. His anger finished burning itself out. A sigh came out of its mouth and for a moment, it looked... sad? But then, it puffed itself up and posed, trying to look cool.

"ANYWAY! I WILL BE CAPTURING THE HUMAN! AND THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL GET EVERYTHING I DESERVE! RESPECT! RECOGNITION! ALL OF MY WORK WILL HAVE FINALLY PAID OFF! PEOPLE WILL ADMIRE ME, THEY WILL EVEN ASK TO BE MY FRIEND! I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES AND ADORATION EVERY MORNING!"

The shorter skeleton glanced at the lamp. Frisk hadn't felt very safe, hiding behind this lamp. But as he saw the skeleton's aside glance, whatever feeling of fleeting safety he had felt before was completely removed.

"maybe my lamp will help you."

Frisk froze. He had to do everything not to start trembling in fear. Why had he went along with that crazy skeleton? In fact, why was he even paying attention to those nutjobs? Is that why he left the ruins for, to be captured by a pair of insane skeletons? And then there was what the skeletons had talked about. Determination. To Reset. He thought that Asriel had been lying somehow. But to hear them talk about this like that? It couldn't be, right? This couldn't be what the grown-ups used to hide from him and the other kids, right?

"SANS! YOU ARE NOT HELPING! YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING LAZYBONES!" And there went the tall skeleton again, stomping into the snow enraged. "ALL YOU DO IS SIT AROUND AND BOONDOGGLE! I SWEAR! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"hey, relax. i got a ton of work done today."

The tall skeleton suddenly froze. The lights in his eye sockets vanished. He stopped stomping the ground, giving the smaller one a baleful glare. A small whisper came out. "Don't you dare, Sans."

For some reason, that line was the single scariest line that the tall skeleton had said in the entire exchange. For some reason, it didn't even faze the shorter one.

"yep! a **skele-ton**." The shorter skeleton winked.

This did it. The tall skeleton looked utterly defeated. "WHY? WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME HAVE TO DO SO MUCH TO GET EVEN THE SMALLEST AMOUNT OF RECOGNITION? WHAT... AM I DOING WRONG?"

"wow, sounds like you're really working yourself..." The short skeleton winked again. "... **down to the bone**."

This last pun finally reversed the tall skeleton's nearly perpetual smile. He lifted a finger and opened his mouth to say something at the shorter one. But then, it changed its mind, sighed, and turned its back upon the short one.

"NEVERMIND. I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES." The tall skeleton then walked away.

A few minutes passed, the short skeleton just standing there. Then, after glancing to the sides a few times to make sure that he was alone with the kid, he grabbed the lamp and, somehow, stuffed it back into his pocket. Once that was done, he stared at Frisk for a moment, silently. How could that skeleton keep himself smiling all the time like this? Does he think he's funny?

"alright, let's talk about the favor i was gonna ask of ya." said the skeleton. "i think you may have noticed it. my brother has been kind of... down lately. he used to laugh at my jokes or at least, tolerate them. but the fact that he never managed to be the first to encounter a human before has been kind of... erroding his determination. seeing you might just make his day. ya know, actually cheer him up?"

Frisk paused. Was that skeleton really asking him to...

"No way! I don't want to be captured! I don't want to die! All I want is to get out of here!"

"hey, relax." The short skeleton said patiently. "he's not dangerous."

"And what if he tries to be dangerous? Then what?"

"nope. not dangerous. even when he tries to be."

Frisk relaxed a bit but as he thought about it, his eyes glanced off of the insane skeleton's frame. He remembered the massive flying trees, the footsteps getting closer no matter how fast he ran. And well, while his discussion did paint him as kind of lazy and careless, he didn't want to chance it. He didn't have a choice. So reluctantly, he nodded.

"A-alright."

"thanks a million." The skeleton turned around before glancing back at him one last time. "i'll be up ahead."

He then... walked off in the wrong direction? Frisk blinked yet more times, trying to comprehend all of this madness he had just been subjected to. And soon enough, he was alone once more. Which unfortunately meant that with nothing to distract him, he found himself shivering again. The cold sure didn't feel nice at all. He needed to get somewhere warm.

* * *

The fear from the previous encounter had begun to vanish. Now that he thought about it, that lamp the weird short skeleton had taken out of its pocket was actually kind of funny. He also felt thankful that it had successfully hid him from the taller skeleton.

As the fear receded and he thought back on the jokes by the short skeleton and the weird favor it had asked, Frisk felt his drive to move forward return. As it did, it caused a spark and a star of light appeared nearby. A save point, Asriel had called it. He had been touching them, letting their warm energy flow through him before and it had felt right and calming.

Apparently, those stars allowed one to save or load. Maybe he could try it? How do he do that?

He touched the star and focused. A force stirred within him and he was surprised to see something deep inside. Word etched in a box, forming a strange code of sorts. A save file? It reminded him of a video game. How did he save?

As he wished for saving and tried to will it to happen, it somehow happened. He did not know how it happened but it did. He had saved his game!

... right. Now what?

He walked down the path. He found himself shivering against from the cold. The warm feeling he had felt from the save point vanished quickly, leaving him at the mercy of the cold wind. In fact, the wind felt even colder than before somehow. Was it snowing? Wait... shouldn't snow fall from the sky, not travel horizontally?

Then it occured that there were footsteps in the snow, footsteps that did not belong to him. The rythm indicated more limbs than just two.

Frisk's eyes widened as from behind the cover of the trees, a massive reptile with a snowflake pattern head and a large beak emerged, its eyes boring into him. The creature was walking on all four and yet, its head was level with his.

The creature stood before him and observed him carefully. Frisk couldn't help but wonder what kind of reptile had a bird beak and feathers on its head like this. It made him think of a... dragon...

Oh. Oh no.

"Ice puns are **snow** problem!"

Huh? What? Why did it just say that? He stared at the dragon for a moment as it stood there, all tall and smug. To be fair, Frisk had no idea what to think of the situation but then, this was starting to be the norm. Monsters are crazy. Maybe it's just confused or lost like the ones from the ruins? He remembered them. They were just really absentminded and a compliment or a finger wiggle later and they were leaving him alone.

So maybe if he act friendly, the scary dragon thing will leave him alone? It certainly seemed to be staring at him intently. He smiled at it nervously despite the fear in his body but to his horror, the dragon did not go away. It just remained there, one of its eyes widening. The strange motion reminded him of someone raising an eyebrow, as if expecting something.

What is he supposed to do or say? Maybe is it like one of those weird slime things and it will leave if he imitate it? But he doesn't know what kind of joke he could say! He was never the funniest of people by any mean. He looked around, desesperately looking for inspiration and then, nothing coming up to him, blurted out something.

"What is white and blue? Well.. hmmmm..." Nope. Still nothing. The dragon thing is staring very intently now. "Maybe the face... of someone... who hears a joke that drag on for a while?" That was totally lame. The dragon's eyes are narrowed, its expression showing a mix of boredom and exhasperation. "Drag on? Dragon? Because you look like a dragon?"

"Is that s'posed to be funny?" The dragon said in a flat tone that somehow came off as incredibly terrifying to the human child.

"Anyway! You're a human, right? Well, I'm supposed to be fighting you in **cold** blood!"

The dragon is smiling? It finally registered to Frisk that this was supposed to be a joke of sorts. A grimace formed on his face. That... was a really awful pun. A really, really awful one. And one that actually offended him given the circumstances.

"That wasn't funny at all. In fact, this is the most unfunny joke I heard in a long time. Leave me alone!"

This turned out to be a spectacularly stupid move on his part. The dragon's face turned a funny color and its eyes begun to twitch for a moment, its beak opening very wide. Inside, shifting teeth that reminded Frisk very much of a chainsaw, which did wonders regarding pumping him into a state of blind panic.

"WELL!" The dragon declared, its feathers puffing out, making it look even bigger and intimidating. "THIS won't be funny either!"

A torrent of ice and snow flew forth as the dragon used its deadly magic breath. Frisk cried out in fear and thrown himself to the side, barely avoiding being turned to swiss cheese by the barrage of icicles, the ice projectiles as sharp as blades.

"What's your problem?! Why are you doing this to me?"

"I'm trying to be funny, what else do you think? I mean, I know you're a human but you have to have a sense of humor right? Surely you couldn't be that bad?"

That dragon is trying to be a comedian?! If it wasn't for the fact that he barely avoided being impaled by an array of ice blades, he probably would have found this to be ridiculous. Those ice puns were atrocious.

"And why did you attack me, if all you want is to be funny? Just give your joke and leave me alone!"

"Fine fine, chill out. I'll give you my next pun." Frisk's grimace became worse as the sheer awfulness of the pun registered. The dragon pretended not to care and cleared its throat before speaking up. "My fave ice cereals: **frosted**!"

That... was the extent of the dragon's sense of humor? That was atrocious. Standing up, Frisk blinked a few times and then starting to boo the dragon loudly.

"You think that was funny? Those puns are awful! The worst I heard! I don't think anyone would ever laugh at puns like these! And what are you doing in the middle of the forest if all you want is to be funny? Did you run away? Because I don't think anyone would ever find you funny if all you do is puns like these!"

Frisk booed again, hoping to get the dragon to leave him alone... only to notice that its expression had changed. Whatever he was going to say next, the words died halfway through his throat as the dragon's face turned a very recognizable shade of red, its eyes glowing with rage.

"I thought maybe there was a chance what my history teacher said wasn't right. That humans might not be all bad. After all, you're wearing a stripped sweater and you look too small to be anything else than a kid. I thought, maybe, humans could have a sense of humor. But I guess you humans are all rotten to the core."

Frisk found himself paralyzed in terror as the dragon's baleful glare bored into him. "I wonder if your flesh is as rotten as you?"

Frisk screamed. Pain laced through his body and he tried to run away but he found himself pined to the snow. The dragon's sharp beak had just slammed shut upon his left arm and he found, to his horror, that the teeth actually did work like chainsaw teeth. He couldn't think, he couldn't do anything as he screamed in pure agony.

With a sickening crunch, crimson liquid sprayed all over the snow as the dragon tore off Frisk's arm, the kid's screams heightening in intensity and volume. The dragon's claws and teeth shredded his shirt and the skin underneath, sending bloodstained cloth and chunks of flesh flying all over the place. As blood poured into his mouth and stopped his screams, Frisk found himself starting to cry.

He weakly tried to beg the monster for mercy, to tell it that he was sorry, that he didn't mean to hurt its feelings like this, that he had been mean for no good reason.

If his words ever left his mouth, the dragon did not listen.

He couldn't breathe. He tried to breathe but his mouth just filled with too much blood. Every time he coughed, trying to breathe, he found his chest feeling... sticky and heavy. The air just wasn't reaching his lungs somehow. He felt as if he was somehow drowning.

Eventually, his struggles ended, his eyes growing unfocused and glassy. His chest, now a messy mess of broken ribs and shredded organs, ceased moving. The burning desesperation and pain left him, all growing dark.

 _I don't want to die I don't want to I don't want to die..._

 _Please, I don't want to die._

He silently called for help. Nobody came.

As life left him, the flow of Determination ceased. With nowhere in which to vent its excess Determination, his Soul cracked and buckled from the stress of the excessive Determination build-up. For a few brave seconds, the desesperate desire to survive allowed Frisk's soul to hold on to life. Then, inevitably, the build-up of Determination became too much and it burst out of his Soul.

The Determination exploded out of his Soul, shredding it to pieces in the process. All sense of belonging to the realm of the living ceased alongside with any lingering thoughts and emotions he might have had.

Young, helpless ten years-old Frisk died alone and forgotten in the snow fields of Snowdin, torn apart by a teen comedian dragon.

* * *

It was so strange. The agony he had experienced was the worst he had ever experienced, worst than any fall or even broken bone he had ever felt. The closest he could think was the way Asriel had shot his hand earlier but this had been like this on such a scale and for so long it couldn't compare.

But as his vision had faded, so had the pain. There was only a calm emptiness now.

Before him was a box filled with strange symbols. For a reason he did not know, despite not having eyes or even being anything anymore, he could somehow perceive the box and understand what the symbols meant.

It was a box with his name writen on it and with two panels on it. One panel had "Continue" writen on it while the other had "Reset" writen on it.

Red energy drove him. He could feel the whisper. If he wanted to ever see the surface ever again, to escape those monsters that hated him, he needed to be alive again.

He would get out. He wouldn't give up. And that dragon, what it did to him...

Frisk was filled with Determination. He used it to reach for the "Continue" option.

* * *

Frisk understood everything now.

It WAS like in a video game. Saving, resetting... Determination magic. He now understand why he was told to stay determined. If he dies, he can try again.

He had felt so afraid, so helpless. An alien feeling filled his heart. This time, when the dragon came, his eyes did not show the fear it had earlier. That dragon had hurt him. It had killed him. It was not a confused, lost person or someone who wanted to care for him. It was a bully, like the ones back at the orphanage.

Hatred coursed through his veins. It was not a feeling he had felt in a long time. Despair and self-loathing had long extinguished it. Beside, he had never wanted to hurt anyone, to make anyone sad.

But as he looked at that dragon, how it had reacted to him just wanting to be left alone...

He gripped his stick. This time, he was going to use it. As he stepped forward, the dragon's reaction was different.

"Hmmm... chill out, dude!" it called, scared. It was right to be scared.

"You're not funny! Leave me alone! Go bother someone else! SHOO!" Frisk brought down his stick hard upon the dragon's head. It cringed in pain, stumbling back, the thick and heavy piece of wood having left a nasty gash upon its face. The dragon's eyes fluttered from the dizziness for a moment before it turned to him, its eyes narrowed.

"What was that for, you jerk!"

Frisk anwsered by slamming the stick into the dragon's face again. He just wanted it to go away.

"You humans are all rotten!"

Terror gripped him. Instead of understanding that he wanted to be left alone, the dragon once again charged. Blind panic caused him to leap and this time, the dragon's jaws clenched upon empty air.

"Hey, here's a joke, you jerk! Who's dead? YOU!"

The dragon opened its mouth, disgorging a barrage of ice projectiles. Frisk's fear swirled. The dragon was not going to stop hurting him. Not unless he make it stop. And it won't stop. Unless... unless he made it stop.

He thought of the bullies, of how scared he had been, of how that jerk of a wannabe comedian had snacked upon him, of how no one had come to help and he had died alone, begging for mercy in the snow. As anger rose within him, he did not notice the subtle change in his grip of the stick.

This time, he dodged toward the monster. Monster, it was indeed a monster. A bully, a heartless jerk. It wanted to be funny? How is hurting people funny?

He slammed the stick into the side of the dragon's head. The hit made a violent thwack sound, knocking the monster off its feet and causing it to fall over. Frisk didn't think. He couldn't. He slammed his stick into its face repeatedly. Teeth flew out and he could see it try to release another ice breath attack.

He went for the eyes. He dislodged the beak. Feathers flew, dust swirled into the air like a blizzard. He slammed harder and harder until it stopped trying to claw at him, until the hints of magical ice stopped glowing.

It hadn't occured to Frisk that the dragon had stopped moving a full minute ago. Slowly, the red disappeared from his eyes and he stumbled back. The dragon's left eye, the one it had left, was unfocused and glassy, like on a weird doll. Its head was angled in a weird way and he realized that all of a sudden, he couldn't hear the monster breathing. In fact, its face was pretty beat up. There was blood all over its features and it looked somehow brittle, as if falling apart into dust.

Blood? Frisk looked at his arms. They were covered in blood, his sweater thoroughly sticky and dirty. So was his stick. He had absolutely no idea where the dust on his hands had came from, either.

The monster was not moving. It just wasn't moving. Its lone eye was unfocused and glassy. Dust, blood. The world was blurry, confusing. Snow swirled through the snowy trail.

Why? How? What?

Frisk couldn't walk straight. He couldn't stop crying. His chest burnt as he sucked in air loudly and quickly, feeling dizzy. His hands were trembling incontrollably.

Away. He had to get away. He had to get away from there.

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


End file.
